Watchdog Group Calls for Special Investigation as hapless USDA allows animals to
be torn apart in SC lab

WASHINGTON, DC – A private medical research facility in South Carolina is the
subject of a request for an investigation by the USDA’s Office of Special
Counsel. Internal records from the private lab reveal that the facility is
breaking federal law, killing and mutilating hundreds of research subjects and
treating them in a “horrific” manner.

SAEN, a government watchdog nonprofit organization based in Ohio, said the
deaths are part of an “epidemic” sweeping U.S. research facilities, threatening
medical research. SAEN is releasing portions of more than 2,000 pages of
internal documents uncovered during its FOIA investigation.

According to SAEN, the reports show at least 171 non-human primates (of about
3,000 at the facility) located at Alpha Genesis, Inc. missing body parts, from
fingers to whole limbs. The most frequent cause of death is “traumatic
injuries.” Other causes of death include hypothermia and heat stroke. A dozen
primates had frost bit injuries, some so severe that tails were amputated.

SAEN called the conditions at the facility the “worst” it has ever scene,
noting that one report described a scene out of a horror movie – a primate found
with its abdomen ripped open and the “guts” littered among the enclosure.

SAEN will also release copies of a letter sent to the Office of the General
Counsel of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, calling for an immediate investigation
not only of Alpha Genesis, Inc. but also of the USDA inspection process.

“The Animal Welfare Act violations at the Alpha Genesis facility are serious,
widespread, and often deadly. It is amazing that such barbarity could take place
at a facility (in the U.S.),” said Michael Budkie, executive director of SAEN.

“However, I am left absolutely incredulous when I read the most recent USDA
inspection reports for this facility. I am both shocked and dismayed by these
reports. How is it possible that a facility which has had, within roughly one
year, 33 deaths from trauma (as well as 66 traumatic injuries), 12 cases of
frostbite, 6 deaths involving hypothermia, 8 deaths from heat
stress/shock/exhaustion, as well as three infant deaths from malnutrition be
totally in compliance with all federal regulations?” Budkie wrote.